User blog:Lexmechanic/Project Inspiration Vol. 1
Reading and working on this wiki has been extremely inspiring. I can be a bit absent-minded at times, so I think it would be a good idea to write down my ideas - both for my own benefit and because it might inspire someone else in turn. So I'll launch right on into it! Automatic Chicken Breeder/Grinder If there can be a singular definition for "cruel and unusual punishment", I think this must be it. Chickens are wonderful creatures, in Minecraft. Unlike any other passive mob, they reproduce by two separate methods. You can feed a pair of them Wheat, setting them into breeding mode, or you can gather their eggs and... "hatch" them. The second method, being their unique feature, can be automated. Step 1: Breeding Chickens can be placed into a 3x2x3 (XYZ) pit with a pair obsidian pipes to collect the eggs they lay. These eggs are routed into a dispenser in the wall of the pit. The dispenser is wired to a redstone clock, causing it to periodically launch eggs at the wall, where they hatch into more chickens. This process can be continued indefinitly for massive numbers of chickens. Step 2: Grinding Water source blocks can be set in the pit so that the current pushes the chickens against a single block in the pit of the wall. this block is attached to a sticky piston, creating a gate which can be opened. Beyond this gate is nothing less than certain doom. I've been playing with a variety of methods for the chickens' torturous demise. #The most practical method is the tried and true "lava blade" grinder. Chickens slain by this method will drop their meat already cooked - a very convenient outcome, I would say. However, this is almost too conventional and, therefore, boring. #The method that I find most interesting at the moment is "electrocution". Ever since I installed IndustrialCraft 2, I've wanted to observe what effects uninsulated wires carrying high voltage will have upon chickens. My theory: any contact with the wires will result in an unsatisfactory mark on their official testing record, followed by death. Well I have to go for now. I will undoubtedly continue later. Update Work is coming along slowly on this project, but I've been making some progress. Funny, it seemed such a simple thing. I've set up automatic Egg collection with an Obsidian Transport Pipe and two Redstone Engines, feeding into a Dispenser. The Dispenser is wired into a redstone clock, as planned. The clock can be disabled with a switch, for when I run out of Eggs and don't want to lag my game. I have uninsulated copper wires surrounding the coop, but the setup could use a little work. If I run the Obsidian Transport Pipe with Electrical Engines from Forestry, then that will increase the range of the pipe. Egg collection might be more challenging though, if I want the chickens to live. The setup isn't complete so, naturally, I have a few plans for improvement: #I'd like to use a simple Gate in place of the switch, setting it to run the clock when there are Eggs to hatch and stop when the Dispenser runs empty. #I'll add a Diamond Transport Pipe to sort out the drops, then I can use the same delivery system for both the drops and more Eggs when the next generation hatches. Category:Blog posts